New Goodies

[clocker]

Well, it's been a while since Sprocket was treated to anything new but she lucked out this week.

One side effect of our faltering economy is many failing businesses.
A friend of mine is in the computer recycling biz and has been gobbling up all the computer stuff from closing offices.
Last week he bid on a pallet of goods and for $400- FOUR HUNDRED DAMN BUCKS!- he got 10 Dell workstations, 10 20" IBM LCD monitors, a rackmount network setup (mostly Cisco) and 10 printer/scanners.

In exchange for helping cart away the booty, I got a monitor.
Not as stylish as regular consumer unit, the IBM has a thicker bezel and more pedestrian appearance but has a tilt/swivel/height adjustable base and is built like a brick shithouse.
Not a big step up from my old 19" but the main advantage is the resolution- the IBM runs 1600 x 1200 natively while the 19" (which was basically just a stretched 17" unit) only ran 1280 x 1024. It also has DVI connectors- the old unit was d-sub.
Plus, it's standard format...I'm not sold on "widescreen" models because they stretch text and look funny to me.

Not to mention, it was free!

Yesterday I picked up a LaCie 1TB external drive at Microcenter.
On sale for only $129.
It's actually quite stylish and silent in operation.
Internet rumor has it that they are either Samsung or Seagate SATA drives inside- I haven't opened it up to confirm (although you can bet I will soon!).
I just looked at the drive with Everest. It shows up as a Seagate TB SATA drive with 32MB cache. So basically, when you buy the LaCie you get a nice drive in a $10 enclosure...all in all, a very good deal I think.

I consolidated all my video- 936GB- onto it yesterday.
Because of the USB interface- and possibly because of Vista's slow file transfer performance- this took almost 9 hours.
Now I want another one...

Finally, this Wednesday I'll be getting a 64GB SSD from my buddy Eric who still works at the shop where I was employed.
He upgraded a customer laptop to a larger drive and they just gave him the 64GB. He can't really use it and since he owes me a few favors, he's giving it to me.

This will lead to a total reconfiguration of Sprocket.
Haven't really finalized what I want to do...a lot will depend on the case I choose to use.
I'll post pics when I get her done...just thought I'd share my good fortune right now.

[Zorg]

Widescreen monitors don't stretch text if you run the correct resolution.

doing work and getting something for said work is not free.

[Detale]

Good for sprocket man she deserves it. Can't wait to see what you're going to do with everything. I have a WS monitor and Z is right it takes a while, at least for me, but you can mess with the res to get the text looking right.

[anoneemuse]

how about build a linux cluster with all those hardware

[clocker]

doing work and getting something for said work is not free.

So that's how it works.

I have a WS monitor and Z is right it takes a while, at least for me, but you can mess with the res to get the text looking right.

On my recent trip I worked with three different PCs, all of which had WS monitors, all of which looked weird/wrong to me.
A friend of mine has a dual monitor setup- a 28" WS with a 19" normal ratio right next to it. Side by side, the difference is marked.
Maybe you get used to it but there's no denying that a WS distorts text.

[sleepyness]

So that's how it works.

I have a WS monitor and Z is right it takes a while, at least for me, but you can mess with the res to get the text looking right.

On my recent trip I worked with three different PCs, all of which had WS monitors, all of which looked weird/wrong to me.
A friend of mine has a dual monitor setup- a 28" WS with a 19" normal ratio right next to it. Side by side, the difference is marked.
Maybe you get used to it but there's no denying that a WS distorts text.

It shouldn't at all. The resolution on your friend's 28" isn't set up correctly or something. If your 20" is WS, then the resolution shouldn't be 1600x1200. Most wide screen resolutions are 1680x1050, 1920x1200, etc.

[clocker]

It shouldn't at all. The resolution on your friend's 28" isn't set up correctly or something. If your 20" is WS, then the resolution shouldn't be 1600x1200. Most wide screen resolutions are 1680x1050, 1920x1200, etc.

I guarantee that my friend's screen is "set up correctly".
My 20" is NOT wide screen so it's resolution is also correct.

[tesco]

It shouldn't at all. The resolution on your friend's 28" isn't set up correctly or something. If your 20" is WS, then the resolution shouldn't be 1600x1200. Most wide screen resolutions are 1680x1050, 1920x1200, etc.

I guarantee that my friend's screen is "set up correctly".
My 20" is NOT wide screen so it's resolution is also correct.

Mine doesn't distort the text at all either.
If you're using the right ratio of resolution (example 1440*900 for my screen) the text appears exactly as it would with a "regular" monitor, except that more fits onto one line because of the extra width.

[kooftspc11]

tbh ive never really been a widescreen fan. but nowadays it seems that is all that's available so there's really no point in fighting it...especially considering the hidef formats

for what its worth i still love my 19" 1280x1024 dearly...probably my favorite monitor ever

[clocker]

If you're using the right ratio of resolution (example 1440*900 for my screen) the text appears exactly as it would with a "regular" monitor, except that more fits onto one line because of the extra width.

You sure about that?
I can confirm/disprove that theory on Wednesday.